1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light weight, soft feel hand ball and more particularly pertains to a ball which is lighter in weight than normal and of a softer feel for making the game of hand ball more enjoyable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of resilient balls of various designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, resilient balls of various designs and configurations heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of striking a ball which is excessively hard and excessively heavy for the person so striking the ball are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 2,952,460 to Ellis discloses a rubber ball having a vacuum cup depending inwardly from the inside surface thereof, and a smooth plane surface on the inner side of said hollow rubber ball directly opposite the said vacuum cup, and a scratch on said plane surface for the restricted passage of air from the inside of said ball to the inside of said vacuum cup when the vacuum cup is in sealing engagement with said plane surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,476 to Fechner discloses a spherical ball including an internal resilient hand grip comprising a passageway opening from the spherical surface of said body and connected with a substantially central internal cavity for placing the hand into the cavity whereby said passageway is completely contained within the spherical body.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,300 to Hornsby, Jr., discloses a novelty device in the form of a color-changing amusement ball comprising a spherical body member, a transparent spherical cover concentrically surrounding the body member and spaced therefrom to define a spherical cavity, and a layer of liquid crystalline material disposed within the cavity. The liquid crystalline material is responsive to temperature changes and/or deformational stresses applied thereto so that the material changes color with a change in temperature to which the ball is exposed and/or on deformation of the ball which can be accomplished by impacting the ball against a hard surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,134 to Svub et al. discloses a molded game ball, particularly for volley-ball, hand ball and soccer is made by winding a layer of fibrous material on an inflated rubber bladder, applying a sheet of a rubber mixture with a vulcanizing agent on this layer, imprinting in a cold mold a network of fields on this layer indicating places where cover segments have to be bonded thereon so that they do not get in touch one with another on their periphery and by finally pressing this semi-product with bonded cover segments in a smooth mold at temperatures for vulcanizing.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,944,363 and 5,026,054 to Osher et al. disclose a resiliently deformable toy ball which is soft and supple and provides and intriguing relaxing feeling when squeezed and which possesses a low rebound percentage due to its resiliently deformable nature. The ball has a highly plasticized PVC core which is resiliently deformable due to its highly plasticized state. The PVC core is encased in a flexible polymer shell and both the core and the flexible shell are further encased in a stretchable fabric outer cover.
In this respect, the light weight, soft feel hand ball according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of making the game of hand ball more enjoyable through the use of a ball which is lighter in weight than normal and of a softer feel.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for new and improved light weight, soft feel hand ball which can be used for making the game of hand ball more enjoyable. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.